of Sorrento, Guy

Birth Name of Sorrento, Guy
Gender male
Age at Death unknown

Narrative

Guy, Duke of Sorrento
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Guy (Italian: Guido) (b.c.1012) was the duke of Sorrento from 1035, the brother of Guaimar IV of Salerno, father-in-law of William Iron Arm and William of the Principate, and brother-in-law of Humphrey of Hauteville. He was the son of Guaimar III and Gaitelgrima. Guy's place in history is secured primarily through his relations (by blood and marriage), though his own actions were not inconsequential. According to John Julius Norwich, he was a "selfless" prince, exhibiting a "moral sense rare for [his] time and position."

His brother conquered Sorrento in 1035 and bestowed it on him as a duchy. He was a constant supporter of his brother and the Normans during the former's reign and he counted the mercenaries as allies when, upon the assassination of Guaimar, his family, including his nephew, the Salernitan heir, was rounded up by the assassins and imprisoned, he being the only one to escape. He quickly flew to the Normans of Melfi, whom he paid highly for aid. He brought them back with his own Sorrentine army to besiege Salerno, wherein the conspirators had fortified themselves. Guy had soon captured all of the conspirators' families and had negotiated the release of his nephew, Gisulf. Guy accepted their surrender soon after and promised them no harm. The Normans, not bound, they said, by Guy's oath, massacred the four brothers and 36 others, one for each stab wound found in Guaimar's body. Guy enthroned his nephew and he and his Normans, who would have preferred Guy as prince, did immediate homage to him. Nevertheless, Gisulf was thankless to his Norman vassals and grew to be a piratical neighbour to all in Southern Italy. His principality was constantly picked away and he ignored the advice of his uncle Guy counselling moderation.

Guy remained forever loyal to the Hauteville leadership, however. In 1073, he captured the rebel Herman, his own nephew, and handed him over to Robert Guiscard, his nephew-in-law. Guy died amidst the breakup of the great principality his brother had forged and he had preserved. With his death, Sorrento became independent once more.

Events

Event Date Place Description Sources
Birth 1012 Salerno, Campania, Italy   1a
Death        

Parents

Relation to main person Name Birth date Death date Relation within this family (if not by birth)
Father of Salerno, Guaimar III9831027
Mother di Capua, Gatelgrima9901028
    Brother     of Salerno, Guaimar IV 1010 1052
         of Sorrento, Guy 1012
    Brother     of Salerno, Pandulph IV 1015
    Sister     di Salerno, Gatelgrima 1017

Families

Family of of Sorrento, Guy
  Children
Name Birth Date Death Date
di Sorrento, Maria1035
di Sorrento, Guida1040

Source References

  1. Michael Neuman: http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=clcaldwell&id=I14945 Caldwell and related families
      • Source text:

        # ID: I14945
        # Name: Prince of Salerno Guaimar III
        # Sex: M
        # Birth: ABT 983 in Salerno, Campania, Italy
        # Death: 1027
        # Note:

        Guaimar III of Salerno
        From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
        =
        Guaimar III (also Waimar, Gaimar, Guaimaro, or Guaimario and sometimes numbered Guaimar IV) (c.983 ? c.1027) was duke (or prince) of Salerno from around 994 to his death. His date of death is sometimes given at 1030 or 1031, but the most reliable sources consistently indicate 1027. Under his reign, Salerno entered an era of great splendour and Opulenta Salernum was the inscription on his coins. He made Amalfi, Gaeta, and Sorrento his vassals and annexed much of Byzantine Apulia and Calabria.

        He was the second eldest son of Duke John II of Salerno. The eldest was Guy, who ruled as co-ruler with his father from January 984 to 988. Sometime between January and March 989, John made Guaimar co-regent. In 994 (also given as 998 or 999), his father died and he became sole ruler.

        In 999, a band of Norman pilgrims returning from Jerusalem stopped at the port of Salerno. While staying there, the city was attacked by Saracen pirates. The frightened Salernitans did not offer battle, but the warlike Normans did. Soon their bravery drew out the Salernitans and together they routed the Moslem menace. Guaimar promptly offered them numerous incentives to stay, but to no avail, the Normans returned to France, promising to spread the word about the need for fighting men in the south.

        As a member of the independent Lombard leadership of the Mezzogiorno, Guaimar himself supported the Lombard freedom-fighter Melus of Bari and, after Melus' defeat in 1011, he was paid a visit by the victorious Byzantine catapan, Basil Mesardonites, in October. Later, he sheltered Melus. He was nominally a vassal of Holy Roman Emperor Henry II, but after the defeat at Cannae in 1018, he discreetly transferred his allegiance to the Byzantine Emperor Basil II. When Henry died in 1024, Guaimar sent an embassy to the new Emperor Conrad II to plead for the release of his brother-in-law Pandulf IV of Capua, the Wolf of the Abruzzi. Conrad, in a show of naïveté, complied. The Wolf immediately put his old capital, Capua, of which he had once been prince, under siege. An endeavour in which he had the support of Guaimar and his Normans under Ranulf Drengot and the catepan of Italy, Boiannes.

        Guaimar made his eldest son by his first wife, Porpora of Tabellaria (d.c.1010), John III, co-prince in 1015, but, in 1018, he died. He then made his eldest son by his second wife, Gaitelgrima, the sister of Pandulf, also named Guaimar, co-prince. It was this son who succeeded him in 1027 at the age of fourteen or sixteen under the regency of Gaitelgrima, who was basically the pawn of her brother Pandulf. Guaimar III's second son, Guy, was made gastald of Capua by his uncle and later duke of Sorrento by his elder brother. His third son, Pandulf, became lord of Capaccio. He had a daughter (probably about 1026) named Gaitelgrima, who married successively the brothers Drogo and Humphrey, counts of Apulia.

         

         

         

         

        Father: Prince of Salerno Guaimar II b: ABT 948 in Salerno, Campania, Italy

        Marriage 1 Gatelgrima di Capua b: ABT 990 in Capua, Campania, Italy

        Children

        1. Has Children Prince of Salerno Guaimar IV b: ABT 1010 in Salerno, Campania, Italy
        2. Has No Children Prince of Salerno Pandulph IV b: ABT 1015 in Salerno, Campania, Italy
        3. Has Children Gatelgrima di Salerno b: ABT 1017 in Salerno, Campania, Italy
        4. Has Children Duke of Sorrento Guy b: ABT 1012 in Salerno, Campania, Italy

      • Citation:

        e-mail: michaelneuman@earthlink.net